Cattle-guard.



E. L. MGCORMIGK.

CATTLE GUARD. APPLICATION FLBD PML v1l, 1914.

Patint@ Aug. 19m

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CATTLE GUARD. APPLIUATION FILED FBB.11,1914.

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ran STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMUND L. MCCORMICK, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CATTLE-GUARD.

To all whom it may concern: y

Be it known that I, EDMUND L. yMCCOR- Mioii, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at St.` Louis, in the State of Missouri, haveinventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Cattle-Guards, of whichthe fol'- lowing is a specification, reference being had to the'accompanying drawings.

This invention relatesto an improved' cattle guard for railroads and hasfor its primary object to provide a device of this character which isautomatically operated by the weight of an animal to present a barrierto its further advance along the railroad track. The invention has for amore particular object to provideaplurality of movable barrier'. platesnormally arranged in horizontal position between and at each side of thetrack, means for elevating said plates to a vertical position, a tripdevice holding said means against operation, and additional ping uponthe same torelease the trip where-V vertiCal'poSitiOn.V

means also arranged between and at each sideof the track and operativelyconnected to the trip device, said latter means being actuated theweight of an animal stepby the barrier plates are elevated to their Theinvention has .for still another object to produce a cattle guardwhichis comparatively simple in its construction, very reliable and effectivein operation and extremely durablein practical use.

Vith'the above and other objects in view as will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions,combinations and arrange ments ofthe parts that I shall hereinafterfully .describe and claim.`

For a fullunderstanding of the invention,

whiche V Figure y1 is a'top 'plan'view of my-iinproved cattle guard;Fig.' 2 is a side elevation thereof; F ig: 3 isa viewsiinilar tofFig.

` 2, the barrier plates being illustrated vin their Specication ofLetters y1 atent.`

referenceA` is to beha-d to the following d escription. andVaccompanying drawings, in

Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

' Application ledFebruary 11, 1914. Serial.No. 818,132.

rails 5 is rotatably mounted in these longitudinal bars and to saidshaft between and at each side of the rails 5 the barrier plates 9v arefixed. As shown'in Fig. 1, these plates normally occupy horizontalpositions and are disposed below the treads of the rails 5 and upon theties 6 so that they will in no wise interfere with the passage of atrain over said rails. Upon the shaft 8 adjacent one of the longitudinalbars 7, a pinion 10 is loosely mounted, said pinion being provided withclutch teeth 11. One end of the shaft 8 is of rectangular form in crosssection and upon the same, the clutch member 12 is slidably mounted,said member being provided with the teeth 13 on one end rdisposedreversely to the clutch teeth 11. This clutch member is normally held inlocked engagement with the clutch of the pinion 10 by means of a coilspring 14. which is arranged between the sliding clutch member and thehead 15 provided upon one end of the shaft 8; The clutch meinberl?. isalso formed with an annular flange 16 which is provided upon one facewith a cam lug 17, theV purpose of which will be morefully hereinafter gbers 19, a shaft 22 `is journaled. One end of this shaft isalsorotatably mounted in one of the longitudinal bars 7 and is providedwith a gear wheel 9.3 which meshes with the pinion 10 upon the shaft 8.A drum24 is fixed upon the shaft `23) between the bracket members 19 andto the same, one end `of a wireI or cable 25 is fixed. This cable passesover a sheave or pulley 26 mounted in the upper end of the standard 18and to theA same, the weight 27 is secured. It will therefore be.understood that the gravity lmovement of the weight will effect therota- Referring in detail to thedrawings,

tion of the shaftf22 `from which rotative track rails 5,y the treadplates are arranged. lEach of these plates, as clearly shown in Fig. Gof the drawings, is provided upon its under side with the dependingbearinglugs 31 having V shaped notches 32 .in their lower ends. Thesenotches receive the crank portions of the shafts 2S. Upon one end ofeach of the shafts 23, a bar 33 is fixed intermediate of its ends. Eachof these bars is provided upon one end with a. weight 341, said weightsoperating to normally hold the bars in perpendicular positions as shownin F ig. 2. `Above andbelow the shafts 28, said bars are connected bylinks 35. The shaft 22 is held against rotative movement undertheigravity action ofthe weight 27 by means of the trip dog 36whichispivoted as at 3"( upon one of the bars 7. A stud 38 .is fixed to saiddog adj acent to its pivoted end and a pair of levers 39 and -f-Orespectively are provided in their corresponding ends with slots 411 toreceive said stud. lThe other ends of the levers 39 and L10 arepivotally connected to one of the bars 33 at the point of connection ofthe lower and upper links 35 respectively to said bar.

Referring more particularly to nig. 3 of the drawings, it will beunderstood that when a cow or other animal approaches the `guard fromthe center of thetrack and steps upon the central tread plate 30, itsweight rotates the crank shafts 28, thereby moving thev vertical bars 33`against vthe gravity action of the weights 34 and also moving thelevers 39 and l0 to the positions shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, sothat the lower lever 39 which is moved toward the left, pulls upon Vthetrip dog 3Gand disengages the same from. the teeth of the gear 23. rTheweight 2'( moving downwardly, rotates the shafts 22 so that the gear 23thereon cooperating with the pinion 10 which is locked upon the shaft 8by the clutch member 12, will rotate said latter shaft and therebyelevate the barrier plates 9 to the vertical positions shown in saidtigure. vhemhoweveigthe animal approaches the track from one side andsteps upon one of the side tread plates 30, the lower weighted ends ofthe bars 33 are swung to the right and the levers 39 and 40 shifted tothe positions shown in full lines in Fig. 3.

1n lthis movement of the levers, the upper lever 10 operates todisengage the trip dog 3G from the teeth of the gear 23 so to releasevthe shaft 22 for rotation under the gravity movement of the weight 27.To the end of one of the ties t3, a metal bar is fixed, which isprovided upon one end with a lateral extensiond3 for engagement by thecam lugl 17 on the flange 16 of the member 12. y l't will thus beapparent that when the shaft 3 has been rotated through substantially`ninety degrees, said lirigv will enthe extension 43 of the bar and theclutch member 12 will be moved longitudinally upon the shaft 3 agai theaction of the spring 141 to disengage th teeth of said member from theteeth 11 carried by the pinion 10. Said pinion is thus released fromlocked engagement upon the shaft so that the barrier plates 9 will fallor gravitate*downwardly to their normal horizontal positions. A crank isthen applied to the end of the shaft 22 and the same rotated to rewindthe cable upon the drum 241.

From the above description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it is believed that the construction as wellv as the manner ofoperation of my invention will be clearly and fully understood. lNhenthe animal steps upon either of the tread plates 30 and the barrierplates 9 are elevated in the manner above explained, an effectivebarrier is presented against the further advance of the animal along thetrack, and by the sudden elevation of the plates, the animal is badlyfrightened so that it will in all probability immediately move off ofthe track. Thusl by means of my invention, it will be appreciated thatthe killing of large quantities of livestock by railroad trains may beavoided. The device as a whole is comparatively simple in itsconstruction, and may be manufactured and installed in a railroad trackat comparatively small cost. `The invention is also reliable andeffective in its operation and eX- tremely strong and durable inpractical use. While 1 have shown and described the preferredconstruction and arrangement of the several part-s employed, it will beunderstood that the invention is susceptible of considerablemodification therein and '1 therefore reserve `the privilege ofresorting to all such legitimate changes as may be `fairly embodiedwithin the spirit and scope of the invention, as claimed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. 1n a cattle guard, a shaft disposed transversely beneath the trackrails, a series of barrier plates fixed upon said shaft, a second shaftgeared to said first named shaft, a weight and a flexible connectionbetween the same and the latter shaft whereby said first named shaft isrotated ,in the gravity movement of the weight, and the barrier plateselevated to vert-ical positions, a trip device normally holding thelatter shaft against rotation, and animal operated means connected tothe trip device, to move the same to its release position.

2. In a cattle guard, a transversely disposed shaft, a series of barrierplates fixed upon said shaft, a pinion loosely mounted upon said shaft,a movable clutch member to normally lock the pinion upon said shaft, asecond shaft, a gear on the latter shaft meshing with said pinion, agravit-y movable weight and a fiexible connection between the same andsaid second shaft, a trip dog en# gaged with the gear on said secondshaft, a crank shaft, a tread plate mounted thereon, a connectionbetween the crank shaft and said trip dog whereby the dog is moved toits release position by the weight of an animal on the tread plate andthe second shaft is rotated by the gravity movement of the weight andthe barrier plates elevated to a vertical position, and means forshifting the clutch member out of locking engagement with the pinion,whereby the barrier plates will fall to their normal horizontalpositions.

3. In a cattle guard, a transversely disposed shaft, a series of barrierplates fixed ,the gear on the latter shaft tohold the same againstrotation, a pair of crank shafts, tread plates mounted upon said crankshafts, each of said shafts being provided with ak plurality of cranksalternately ext-ending in opposite `directions from the rotative axis ofthe shaft, said tread plates being mounted upon the correspondingcranks, weighted bars fixed to one of the ends ofthe crank shafts andnormally disposed in a vertical position, and levers connecting one ofthe bars upon opposite sides of the crank shaft to said trip dog wherebythedog is moved to its release position when the crank shafts arerotated in either direction to permit of the rotation of the operatingshaft whereby the barrierlplates are elevated to their verticalpositions.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

EDMUND L. MCCORMICK.

Witnesses:

SHERIDAN WEBSTER, CHARLES A. GREEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

